13/03/2020
Tässä meidän tarina :-)
''When two different worlds become one.'' Let us present the inspiring story of Tapioca Soul - More than a food trailer
Reima – I moved to Tampere in 2010 to start my massage business. When I was a kid, I enjoyed my mother´s very good food. I like to make food for myself and my friends.
Selene – When I moved from Brazil to Finland, I never had an interest to cook because my mother is very good at it. Just the idea of thinking about cooking for other people was freaking me out!
There is when our stories get together, when I moved to Tampere in 2012, he was always preparing meals for me, and out of the blue, after we got married it felt so right to try to cook for him as well. I tried to make some Brazilian food, he showed me how to make Karelian dishes (some he creates in his own mind). It was natural and being in a kitchen together was always fun.
One day a friend invited us to organize a Ravintolapäivä with her. We did it a couple of times and in one of them, I started doing a Tapioca. That was my first time ever doing this dish on the street as we have in Brazil. The customer's feedback on the dish was so positive that we decided to make it again but this time was only us.
It was all-natural, we didn´t make plans but we realized that this could be a potential business idea, so, we decided to buy a trailer and start our street food journey.
We did some research, participated in some workshops at Crazy Town to present our plan. One of the tasks was to collect information from the public about what kind of food they wish to have. We visited Tammelantori to talk with people there and ask their opinions about what was missing, what could be good open hours, and so on.
It was a great experience! We also participated at “Rahoitusvoimala” project to also present our plans and meet other people that were also presenting their social business ideas. It was very inspiring, but also a realization that we had to find our own way to budget it.
We got to the bank and asked for a loan to buy our first trailer. We bought a trailer which was in so bad condition that we had to spend most of the money on renovation. It was frustrating. We got some little help for the bases but with long days of hard-working, it was no turning back.
To make the story short, I start a cooking school as an unemployed person, Reima is also at school fulfilling his early dream of attending a cooking course to graduate as a chef. Our slogan is “Tapioca Soul, more than a food trailer” because we donate part of our profit to social causes and we wish to inspire others to do the same. Our menu is mainly on Brazilian food with a Finnish twist to represent ourselves as a couple bringing our 2 cuisines together. Banana with licorice is one of our examples.
The story continues with Reima working, me attending school, and the trailer opens basically in the summertime. Our goal is to be able to work all year round with food services like catering, which we are already doing, special events and soon to open our home to host some “dining with us”.
